“It’s fantastic to be able to finish this week in such a way”, Kooij said afterwards. “The first three days were already very special. That gave us a lot of confidence. Today we made sure, as a team, to end this Tour of Britain in the best possible way.”

The 2025 edition of the race turned into a real success story for Team Visma | Lease a Bike. With Kooij’s three stage wins and Matthew Brennan’s victory in stage three, the Dutch team ended up with four triumphs after Kooij’s final-day success.

After another strong lead-out from Brennan, Kooij caught three escapees just before the line in Cardiff. “We left it up to the GC riders to close the gap today. They still had something to fight for on the road”, Kooij explained. “In the finale, we put everything on the stage win as a team. It was just enough. It really came down to the wire, but I’m happy we managed to finish off all the hard work of the team like this.”

For Kooij, the victory in Cardiff marked his tenth win of the season. With that, the Dutchman has played a major role in Team Visma | Lease a Bike’s 36 wins so far this year.